Three distinguished, former task force commanders from Canada’s war in Afghanistan have written an urgent appeal to the immigration minister to restart a resettlement program for local interpreters who worked alongside soldiers and diplomats.
Retired major-generals Denis Thompson, Dean Milner and Dave Fraser penned an open letter in which they warned as many as 115 former translators and their families, still in the war-ravaged country, are in danger following significant gains by the Taliban.
“If and when they are found they will likely be imprisoned or worse, for their service in support of our mission,” said the letter, released late Thursday, a copy of which was obtained by CBC News.
“Many Canadian veterans are in contact with the Afghans who served alongside them and their stories are harrowing. These people are considered ‘comrades-in-arms’ and their plight is affecting these veterans — as it should all Canadians.”
The letter was sent to Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino and comes just days after a key district in the Afghan province of Kandahar, where Canadians did most of their fighting, fell to the Taliban.
All three generals served as commanders of the Canadian ground campaign at various points between 2006 and 2011 — the year in which the then-Conservative government withdrew combat forces and concentrated the military effort on training Afghan troops and police.
The generals noted that under a previous resettlement program which ran from 2009 to 2011, 780 Afghan translators and their families were brought to Canada.
Maj.-Gen. Dean Milner, the last Canadian commander in Afghanistan, poses for a photo in Kabul on March 10, 2014. Now retired, he says the Afghan government seems unable to defeat the Taliban. (Murray Brewster/The Canadian Press)
Restrictive criteria
That program, however, had restrictive criteria, which meant two-thirds of the Afghans who applied for refuge were turned away, according to figures compiled by The Canadian Press at the time the initiative was closed out.
The applicants were required to demonstrate they faced extraordinary risk as a result of their work with Canadians. Being a local “terp” — as they were called — was, without question, a dangerous job. They face threatening phone calls and letters promising to visit death and disfigurement on their families. There were stories of abductions, even hangings.
To qualify under the old programs, the advisers had to demonstrate they worked for Canadian troops, diplomats or contractors for 12 consecutive months between October 2007 and July 2011. That excluded a wide range of interpreters. Canada first deployed special forces troops to Afghanistan in the fall of 2001; followed it up with a battle group in 2002; and then a mission in Kabul before returning to Kandahar in 2006.
WATCH | End of U.S. mission looms in Afghanistan:
President Joe Biden on Thursday said the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on Aug. 31, saying ‘speed is safety’ as the United States seeks to end the nearly 20-year war, amid a troubling resurgence of the Taliban in the country. 2:00
The Taliban have made significant gains since the U.S. and NATO withdrew the bulk of their forces over the last month, including the emptying of the major American base at Bagram, outside of Kabul.
In an interview with CBC News, Milner said the situation is dire for those who served with Western forces, including Canada.
“The Afghans are fighting, but it just does not seem like the government has an answer for beating the Taliban,” said Milner, who was the last task force commander in 2011 before going on to lead the Canadian component of the military training mission in Kabul.
“The Taliban has money. It has the fear factor and they are convincing Afghans to join them. And right now, they have momentum.”
Retired major-general Denis Thompson, seen here in Kandahar in 2008, also signed the letter. (Murray Brewster/The Canadian Press)
Milner says he’s convinced the Afghan army will be able to hold back insurgents in some, but not all areas of the country and that’s why restarting the resettlement program must become an urgent priority for the Liberal government.
“All the other NATO countries are doing this,” said Milner. “The Americans are doing it. The Australians are doing it and they are being successful bringing interpreters out. I know this for a fact. I think Canada needs to step up to the plate and do the same.”
The Liberal government demonstrated both compassion and how swiftly it could move in the resettlement of Syrian refugees and later White Helmet volunteers, he added.
“I don’t think we can wait much longer.” Milner said.
The appeal from the former generals follows a similar plea from other Canadian veterans who went public last weekend with their concerns.
Maj.-Gen Dave Fraser, now retired, in 2006, when he was commander of the Canadian Task Force and NATO’s southern Afghanistan command. (Murray Brewster/The Canadian Press)
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
